There wasn’t really much change in the work situation this week, but the way I approached it was different. I started earlier (7am), but then made appointments all week to be at Cryotherapy by 8:30, and additionally I also made sure I took a proper lunch break. Only on Thursday did it go a bit wrong, but that was mainly due to a meeting running WAY over time and then when I finally got to break for lunch the rain started pouring down.
Just going to carry on in this way and do my best to stay zen in all the craziness.
Let’s get to the Weekly Run Down
Deborah and Kim are the amazing hosts for the Weekly Run Down! Feel free to join in as well to wrap up your week in fitness!
WEEK 31
Plan vs. Actual
Monday – 3.25KM walk, GLI gym 1 hr intake – no workout (appt w/different PT), 3.5KM biking
Tuesday – 3KM walk (office day) to and from train station
Wednesday – 3KM walk, W6R1 run, 6KM, GLI 1 hour, gym 55 min
Thursday – 2.22KM walk, gym
Friday – 2.75KM walk, W6R2 run , gym 55 min
Saturday – 2.5KM walk, parkrun in Alkmaar 5KM, 17/17 Dutch parkruns done!
Sunday – 2KM walk, long run W6R3, 1.4KM w/u walk, 10KM run (!!!)
Fitness for Week 30
Monday – 12.35KM biking , 3,867 steps in total
Tuesday – C25K Week 2 Run 1 – 5KM, 10,238 steps in total
Wednesday – 4KM lunch walk, 6,468 steps in total
Thursday – apparently a rest day, 6,283 steps in total
Friday – C25K Week 2 Run 2, unrecorded biking and walking 17,044 steps in total
Saturday –C25K Week 2 Run 3+ 5KM parkrun, 12.5 KM biking steps in total
Sunday – no recorded walk 13,279 steps in total
Total Steps: – 74,954/ 10,707 daily average, 4 KM walking and 15KM running in total recorded.
Total Biking: 25KM recorded plus some non-recorded
Recovery
It is now 8 weeks since my operation and I don’t have much to report. I can’t complain about anything to be honest. Swelling is still there but minimal. Maybe the supplements, compression garments and cryotherapy work.
Running
It was Week 2 of the C25K program which called for warming up, 1.5min running and 2 minutes recovery walking x 9. I did that Tuesday, Friday and Saturday (parkrun day!). Saturday was the strongest day, Tuesday felt the “heaviest” / slowest but in fact it was Friday that was the most sluggish. Regardless, happy to have completely week 2!
Parkrunday was in Eindhoven this week – Four parkruns went live again in The Netherlands; In Rotterdam, Maastricht, Utrecht and Eindhoven. Dafne (the other Event Director), Hans (her husband) and I went to support the team down there as they have come up to support us (before covid) with a few of our test runs. Eindhoven is about an hour drive and I biked over to Dafne and Hans’ place to ride with them (and then biked home of course).
It had been raining again but luckily it stopped long enough for a dry parkrun edition! Afterwards we went over to the Athletic Club near the park for coffee and a chat. They had 39 participants, which is awesome with very little advertising! I was the 11th woman, in 35th place and 1st in my age group (hysterical as I was the ONLY one in my age group). I felt the need to wear my Bix tee-shirt afterwards – LOL!
Meanwhile in Sonsbeek, Ron met up with 4 others for a #notparkrun! Since we basically advertised on social media that until we are live we are still #notparkrunning a half hour earlier so he felt the responsibility to go there and make sure someone from the core team is there.
If y’all want to follow us on instagram we’re over at Sonsbeek parkrun obviously the more likes and follows the better. I post everything in Dutch and English since parkrun is global and we want (eventually…) visitors in our park from everywhere.
Walking
Didn’t record a lot of walks this week, only on Wednesday, though I did get steps in here and there which definitely added up. So I’m probably going to stop focusing on steps again because I’m at my basic activity level that I was at before the operation (now to get in those Les Mills workouts!!).
Biking
Unfortunately all of my biking was what I call commuter biking – I biked to various appointments, over to Dafne and Hans’ place, to my hair appointment and we biked over to Wendy and Vincent’s for her 50th birthday party (yes… a birthday party.. kind of had me anxious to be honest).
More social events than I’m used to anymore
Thursday really kicked off the weekend pretty hard for social events. Gerrit and Marcel came over Thursday after work and we went over to local cafe for drinks before their holiday next week. I’ll be taking care of their gorgeous Scottish Fold, Zus, while they are in Vienna. I make no promises that Zus is there when they return as I’m sure she would love it here with our kitties even more – haha!
On Friday evening I walked with my neighbour-colleague over to another colleague’s house for a BBQ. It was nice but also a bit hilarious as it started raining pretty hard so we were all sitting outside at the table holding umbrellas AND we had to erect a huge beach umbrella over the grill.
Of course Saturday morning early was parkrun, but then Saturday evening it was Wendy’s 50th birthday party. I was slightly nervous about this particular situation because I know they always invite quite a few people for their celebrations. To be honest it was “busy” but it was all very civilised. And we only stayed a couple of hours so if there was any craziness it would have happened after we left.
Sunday I was up early (again) to go to Den Haag for the opening of a bagel shop run by an American lady I know from New York. Believe me, when you live in another country, certain things from home are just never the same and bagels are way up on my list of genuine food items I crave. So I had ordered bagels by mail from her int he past, but when I heard she was opening a shop I contacted Yvonne and asked her if she wanted to meet me for brunch (she doesn’t live too far from Den Haag). The bagels were amazing (I brought some home too) and the weather turned out to be really nice. Yvonne’s son lives there now and he joined us at some point for coffee as well.
Totals for July – Goals for August
Considering I really only started exercising again officially two weeks ago, I’m really happy with my July stats:
Walking. 49.3KM
Running. 27.7KM
Biking. 169.5KM
Steps – 297,429
I’d like to have at least 3KM walking per day except for the days that I run. And I’d like to run at least 60KM in August. Maybe that seems like a big jump but it’s only 15KM per week. Obviously I’ll be listening to my body as well.
I’d also like to do a minimum of 4 RPM classes and 4 Bodypump workouts – it’s just tricky at the moment with work, walking, running, cryo and MLD therapy. And I’d like to have just as many biking kilometers in August as I had for July.
That’s a wrap!
Looks like a busy and fun week for you with some pretty weather too! You’re doing so great with your recovery from surgery. Hooray for Park Run and #notparkrun. So fun!
Thank you so much Marcia!
I do a lot of pacing at home (when I make tea, when my Garmin tells me to move). Some days I can get in about 4k steps that way!
It may feel strange to be going to social events but fun!
I rarely eat bagels these days, and there aren’t really a lot of “genuine” bagels here anyway (which is disappointing for NY — or maybe a good thing, LOL!).
My Garmin always tells me to move after I’ve already moved LOL! delayed reaction? As for bagels, honestly your non-authentic ones likely beat what we have here. they are like cardboard… but yeah, I’d say good thing I have to travel pretty far (or order online which is kind of pricey) to get the good stuff- I’ll leave it as a treat!
I’m glad your strategy for coping with work stress is working. It’s a constant battle for me. It sounds like you did a lot of fun things this week too. We really aren’t meeting up with anyone except family yet, but I think that’s about to change. Your post-op pics look great!
Oh it’s a daily battle. There’s a lot of eye-closing and deep breathing. I’m still trying to keep my social stuff limited – if I’m outside then I feel better than being inside. Thanks for the post-op love!
so glad to read you are happy with your recovery so far. It must be amazing to get to run again. looks like a fun and busy week for you
Thanks Deborah! it sure is great to run again!
Good week of activity. And I think you look great.
I eat a bagel everyday. It they are not authentic if I don’t get them in NYC. But I can’t be picky.
Great news on park run. Must be fun to do in person things again.
Jealous that you can bike or walk to things. I drive to everything. Even my runs.
Not many goals. I just try to run 4x a week. And 1000 miles for the year.
Thanks Darlene. I bet your non-authentic bagels are still better than what’s available to us in the supermarket! It is fun being social but I think I prefer being in an outdoor situation! It is also very ideal to be able to walk and bike. If I don’t have to drive I don’t. My goals are really just targets so not too much pressure on myself.
Glad recovery is going well! Wonderful news.
I’m easing back into social. It’s hard to go back to too many plans, I get anxious! :)
Thanks Jessie! and I hear you. Last weekend was really the max level of social I want to be right now. Well, maybe even went over the max…
Great news about your recovery! You look very happy in all of your pictures. Of course Zus would be happier with your kitties!!
Thank you so much! Oh and right now Zus isn’t having any of it… she really misses her daddies and is not yet ready to be friends with me…
Oh no! Poor Zus.
Mmmm… bagels! I’m trying to remember the history of bagels- didn’t they originate somewhere in Europe? There’s nothing like a real New York bagel though! I hope your friend’s shop does well.
Sounds like your recovery is going perfectly. I like your goals for August! i haven’t made any yet because it’s just how dawning on me that the month has started.
oh I don’t know the history of bagels. I just know that I used to buy them and bialys at this tiny little Jewish deli on the way to work when I was still in Chicago. I hope she does well too!
my goals are really just more like little targets. I don’t like to put too much pressure on myself anyway when I have enough on my plate. But it helps. Thanks!
Great job with everything! Your recovery seems to be going well, and (as I’ve said before) it’s been so fun to see all your hard work with parkrun (and #nonprkrun come to fruition. Well done!!
Thank you so much Kim!
Awesome news about your recovery and that the swelling is at minimum now.
Always love seeing your Parkrun photos. and glad that the C25K program is continuing to go well.
Also, I love the cat meme, lol
Thanks Kim. Yeah I really can’t complain at all about recovery. Sometimes the swelling is annoying but I knew this before going into it…
by the way I totally have started saving memes now because of you! lol! I usually only send them to a friend here though to make her smile.
Work stress is hard because so much is out of our control! Sounds like you are doing your best to control what you can. This is our busy season (back to school physicals) and there isn’t a lot we can control now–full schedules, families showing up late, coming in with a million forms to fill out and/or a million problems they want addressed. I do my best to control those situations too–you’d be surprised how we work to stay on time. You had a busy week, but you look very happy! Love that you are recovering so well from surgery.
you’re so right Wendy. I think that’s why I’ve tried to shift may mindset a little bit. There is really hardly anything I can do about this stress at the moment. Thank you so much!
Glad you are recovering.
Beautiful photos of the Parkrun and … congratulations on your 1st place in the AG. I had an almost similar experience some years ago when I became Italian Champion of the Ports in my age group (half marathon) but we were only 4 runners!
The nearest Parkrun here is 75 km far so I prefer to not participate. However I had good experiences in this kind of race, I ran in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Dublin, London and I have always found friendly people.
Good luck on your august goals!
Thank you so much! I mean, it’s 1st place and I don’t have to actually tell anyone that I was the only one, right? haha! I can imagine 75KM is too far to go for a regular parkrun. I only did it as a tourist anyway until we had it live here.